Cannot Suppress Blank Space Using Q&A for MS-DOS as Data File

Q116367

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

When you use an ASCII text file created in Q&A 4.0 for MS-DOS (comma- delimited, with quotation marks around each field) as a data document, Word for Windows may fail to suppress blank spaces.


CAUSE

When you save in ASCII text format, the Q&A 4.0 for MS-DOS application inserts a space between the quotation marks (") in blank fields. Word inserts this space as the contents of the field; in other words, Word considers this field to be non-blank.

This problem does not occur if you save the Q&A 4.0 file in dBASEIII or dBASEIV file format.

Note: Word version 2.x for Windows ignores the space in a Q&A 4.0 ASCII text file, so this problem does not occur in Word 2.x.


WORKAROUND

Method 1:

If you want to use a Q&A 4.0 for MS-DOS ASCII text file as your data document, use the Replace command on the Edit menu in Word to remove the extraneous spaces from the file.

Method 2:

In Q&A 4.0, save the file in dBASEIII or dBASEIV file format instead of ASCII text format. In Word, attach the data document by using ODBC.

The Q&A product included here is manufactured by a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's performance or reliability.

Additional query words: 6.00a Q&A ascii odbc field space word6 winword dbaseiii dbaseiv dbase3 dbase4 nonblank

Keywords : kbprint kbmerge
Issue type :
Technology :


Last Reviewed: November 4, 2000
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